The White Island

The day’s journey on Skye in Scotland took us past Skeabost and I took the opportunity to call in at the well known second hand bookshop run by Gill Ferguson on the chance that I could at last obtain a copy of ‘The White Island’ by John Lister-Kaye (JLK). The proprietor durly emerged from the… Continue reading The White Island

Risks and Bricks

Many risks remain unobserved in plain sight though on occasion can be perceived by the more perceptive individual. This was perhaps the case in respect of the physical layout of an intensive care unit in an acute hospital. The link had become apparent only after the development of a model to simulate the risk of… Continue reading Risks and Bricks

Shakespeare in Silver Street

Perhaps it is better said that it is worthwhile to read books and especially rewarding to discover treasures among them. An example of this is the book entitled ‘The Lodger’ by Charles Nicoll whose starting point was the serendipitous discovery of a part of a court record involving William Shakespeare. The record related to a… Continue reading Shakespeare in Silver Street

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Categorised as Shakespeare

Marie Curie and I

It was one of those ‘archaic’ experiments in the Natural Philosophy laboratory at Glasgow University. It had been included in the belief that it provided the student with a better appreciation of the basics of radioactivity. As I recall the experiment involved a radioactive source and a gold leaf electroscope. When a charge was placed… Continue reading Marie Curie and I

New Atlantis

There are those who have read ‘New Atlantis’ by Francis Bacon and those who have not. For those who have read the manuscript this summary will not be a revelation. For those who have not it can only be hoped that the summary does a jot of justice to the main work. The narrative of… Continue reading New Atlantis

Star-spangled banner

Most of the time we have relatively little interest in the origins of our national anthem and even less in that of other nations – except perhaps when they may have better tunes. The national anthem of America – the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ has, however, some strands of mutual interest for both the Americans and the… Continue reading Star-spangled banner

A memorable doorway

A Link with JRR Tolkien It was always a pleasant drive along the Fosse Way to reach Stow-on-the Wold after passing through Moreton-on-the-Marsh. There were always art galleries to visit and of these the Fosse Gallery overlooking the main square was especially of interest. A rather unique feature in the town, however, was a north… Continue reading A memorable doorway

Enfidaville

It was one of those holiday excursions where the venues visited rose up in surprise to greet the traveller. It was Tunisia in 2008 in a then settled and tranquil country while institutions in the Western world were experiencing the financial storm of a generation. It had been an early rise as the coach picked… Continue reading Enfidaville

Sarehole Mill

This is an item about Sarehole Mill – a locality frequented by JRR Tolkein in his childhood.